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Recently I was asked to comment on the question: Who is or should be responsible for Strategic Planning? Several people responded. Here is my response:

Of course I agree that the CEO is the ultimate decider of the final strategic plan. Strategy is the CEOs primary job and also one of the key areas of attention for the Board. While I agree with the philosophy of the other respondents, I don’t believe the responses take the issue of “who” to a deep enough level.

For me, 9-11 started like many other mornings. There was the usual mad dash to the airport to catch my flight to New York. I had been working a lot in New York and I knew the routine. I had a very busy day planned so I was anxious to get to LaGuardia and get started.

One of the questions I was asked recently is: “How can you be so sure that the tools of Blue Ocean Strategy® will result in lower cost and increased revenue?”

The short answer is that clients find and capitalize on a large hidden market opportunity that will grow their business when they know how to look for the opportunities. Remember, a consultant (at least this consultant) doesn’t come up with all the brilliant ideas. The client (YOU!) does when you know how and where to look for them.

In a recent post, the US Chamber of Commerce posted the results of a quick poll. One of the questions was regarding the biggest obstacle to creating jobs. The greatest number of respondents said that lack of sufficient customers was the biggest obstacle. Here is my response to the Chamber on their blog:

I noticed that your poll indicates the largest obstacle to creating jobs is lack of customers. It is time for us to get away from the notion that we can keep doing what we have always done yet expect different or better results. Why we keep doing that is a mystery to me.

In preparation for the opening keynote at the 2010 Confab meeting of professional management consultants, we asked about a thousand global business leaders to respond to an online survey about their use of and experience with management consultants. When over a hundred executives responded within a few hours, I knew I had hit a nerve.

Eighty three respondents out of 107 replied that they hire management consultants. They represent a broad range of industries from healthcare/pharma and financial services to manufacturing, retail and agriculture. Here are some of their comments, minus specific identifiers. They range in size from start-ups to about USD $120 Billion

Are you happy with your strategy? Are you bringing in new customers that have never bought from you or your competitors before? Think, Nintendo Wii. Sataru Iwata looked past the competition; looked past the market of young antisocial males who bought most of the electronic games, and created a huge mass market that had never before purchased electronic games. Their competition is still scrambling years later.

So what are you doing to expand your horizons into a new market? Do you think it is not possible for you and your company? It not only is possible, it is being accomplished by organizations from police departments (NYPD) to governments (CHINA) to classical maestos (Andre Rieu), not to mention the traditional organizations like Nintendo, HCL financial and CROC.

Groupon is the fastest growing company on the planet and has created quite a stir with its online deals. When they post a deal, you only have a short time to buy and if there aren’t enough buyers by a certain deadline, then the deal is off. Is this a Blue Ocean for Groupon? Click on this link and see a short video analyzing the situation.

“Sarah was not only responsible for establishing the Florida Chapter of IMC USA in Orlando; she served two terms on IMC USA’s national board of directors. She chaired the IMC USA National Conference in 2004, andrepresented IMC USA at the bi-annual ICMCI Congress in Dublin, Ireland in 2007. She has demonstrated professionalism in her consulting business and has continued to give back to the profession through her numerous volunteer and philanthropic efforts,” said Dr. Drumm McNaughton, CMC®, Chairman and CEO of IMC USA. She was honored in 2008 with the IMC USA Distinguished Service Award.